


Sweet Dreams

by TheColdestGinger



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, crossposted from ff, theres a lot of angst in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 19:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10446126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheColdestGinger/pseuds/TheColdestGinger
Summary: "Any last words?" Artemis hissed. "I owe you that much." She placed her boot on his chest and aimed at his heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm finally getting around to cross posting all of my stuff from ff (I'm The Almighty Leprechaun on there) So if you've already seen this one that's probably why. This one is a little sad, so I'm sorry in advance. Thanks for reading! :)

"Any last words?" The figure standing over him hissed. "I owe you that much." She placed her boot on his chest and aimed her pistol at his heart.

"What happened to you, Artemis?" Roy asked. He paid no attention to the gun barrel looming over him like a grim reaper. Instead he glared at the woman standing over him. He could barley recognize the former archer under the dim streetlight. Her hair was now brown and cut off at her shoulders. She was wearing dark jeans and a leather jacket. There was a scar that ran down from her left brow and outlined her jaw. Her eyes were as dead and emotionless as the rest of her face. The light had left her steel gaze. The only thing that remained was her anger.

"You know damn well what happened!" She barked and shoved him against the ground with her boot. Her lips curled up into a snarl and revealed her bloody teeth. Roy had landed a few punches before she took him down. A rare spark of emotion briefly danced across her face.

" _Omega Squad, you have to get out of the warehouse! There's too many of them and we can't get to you for another ten minutes!" Nightwing's panicked voice echoed through Artemis and Kid Flash's comms. Though his warning fell on deaf ears. The duo was too occupied with a firefight to give anything more than a grunt of response._

_Men and women were coming at the heroes from all directions. Two against eight Artemis knew the Shadows had an extensive network but she never though that they could amass a group of this magnitude. The archer was firing arrows nonstop. She had been at it long enough to form a routine. Arrow. Arrow. Arrow. Punch. Kick. Pivot. Arrow. Repeat._

_Wally on the other hand was speeding through the mass of assassins in an attempt to take out as many as he could. Every so often he zipped back to Artemis and covered her six. She was good and she knew what she was doing but he wasn't ready to risk it. He didn't know where all the Shadows kept coming from, but they kept coming and coming unlike the heroes' backup. Omega squad was on their own._

" _Babe, behind you!" Wally shouted over his shoulder before he sent a right hook towards his masked attacker. In response the assassin tried to throw a nasty upper cut to the speedster's jaw, but the hero was quick enough to block it._

" _Thanks Baywatch." Artemis turned around and ducked away from a sword meant for her neck. With a swift kick and a trick arrow the bad guy was out of her way, but he was quickly replaced with another Shadow. She didn't have time to fire and arrow at the man before he pounced her. The archer did her best to kick him away and then she held her trusty bow like a baseball bat and swung with all her might. In the corner of her eye she could see Kid Flash wrestling with a tall young woman holding a large knife._

" _KF!" Artemis tried to change directions and stop the assassin from disemboweling the speedster but the big brute she was facing threw her off her balance_

_It all seemed to go in slow motion for the archer. Her bow was soaring through the air towards some bad guy's skull and her body was crashing to the ground. Wally was struggling against his vicious attacker. Artemis' heart dropped to her stomach as she thought that her fiancé had finally met his end, but somehow the speedster managed to avoid the woman's swift swipes by a few millimeters. The redhead pushed the knife happy assassin to the ground and turned to help the archer back on her feet._

" _Thanks, Kid." Artemis flashed her fiancé a warm smile._

_A familiar grin split across his face. "Anytime Beauti…" He stopped mid sentence. His wad smile gone and a blade stuck out of his chest. It was a surreal as Wally glanced down and then back at Artemis. She could see the fear in his eyes as he made a sickening gasping noise._

" _Wally!" In an instant her bow was back in her grip and the archer sent three arrows flying towards the speedster's attacker. Her previous moral convictions against killing had vanished. Artemis hastily returned her attention to her dying lover._

_He took one sharp breath before he started coughing. Blood painted his lips as he tried to say something but the words couldn't leave his mouth. The speedster's feet slipped out from under him as his knees buckled to the ground._

_Artemis stood over Wally like a guardian angel and fired her remaining arrows at the enemy. No one would touch her speedster ever again. There were three assailants remaining. Though the archer's quiver was empty and Kid Flash was fading fast. Artemis had no choice but to discard her beloved bow in exchange for a pistol off of one of the fallen Shadows._

_She crouched down next to the speedster and tried to stop the blood with one hand while she shot off two or three rounds at the approaching assassins' feet in an effort to discourage their pursuits. The weapon felt foreign in her hand, but muscle memory took over and she fired it like an expert. Once it was clear that her efforts did nothing more than scatter she fired the pistol three more times. This time Artemis aimed for the three villains and she didn't miss._

" _Wally! Stay with me Wally!" The blonde heroine wailed as she tried to save her fiancé's life. His eyes were at half-mast and most of his yellow uniform was stained red with blood. Tears freely streamed down the archer's face as she tried to stop blood from gushing out of his chest. "Please Wally! Hold on!"_

" _Art-mis…I-I…lo-ve…you." The redhead finally managed to wheeze out. His breaths were sharp and labored. Wally kept his gaze on the woman holding him instead of the hole in his chest. He knew it wouldn't save him, but it helped with the pain._

_The archer could feel his life slipping through her fingers. Wally was fading. She could see it in his eyes as he stared at her. "No! Don't go! Wally! Don't go!" Artemis cried after the speedster's gaze became blank and his body grew still._

" _No!" Artemis wrapped her arms and legs around his still form and sobbed into his shoulder Blood covered her shaking form and streaked through her hair. "Don't go…" The archer whispered in vain._

"He would never approve of this. He'd never want you to become this!" Roy gasped as he tried to struggle out of her grip. Artemis gave him a little space before she used her leg to slam him back onto the pavement. He could feel stray pieces of gravel imbedded in the back of his head. The clone tried not to show much pain. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction.

Her face was set at an angry default, but here steel eyes were vivid and full of her insatiable thirst for vengeance. "It doesn't matter what he would've wanted, Roy! He's dead!" Artemis spat the words out at the archer like they left a bad taste in her mouth. "I'm doing this for me. I'm getting the justice I deserve."

Roy coughed a little more as he tried to laugh at her claims. "Artemis, what you're doing is hardly justice." The redhead replied in a raspy chuckle.

"It's good enough for me," She supplied with a grunt. The former hero had never intended on striking up a conversation with her brother-in-law before crossing him off, but she couldn't help herself. She always had a thing for arguing with Roy Harper.

The archer expected the pistol to shake in her hands. He wanted to see that she would have a hard time killing him. Though he knew she wouldn't feel a thing after she put a round in his chest. Her hand was unwavering and her eyes were steady. Roy expected more out of Artemis. He expected a fight, not an execution.

"You know this is not going to change anything. My death will be as useless to you as all of the other lives you have taken have been. I know how you feel, Artemis. I can see the same pain in your eyes that I see when I look in the mirror." Roy looked at his homicidal sister-in-law with a surprising bit of sympathy. He knew how she felt.

These words left Artemis taken aback. "How could you possibly know my pain? You weren't there when he died in my arms. You weren't stained with his blood. You didn't see the life fade from his eyes!" Her hands were still steady, but her voice shook with fury.

Then Roy finally got it. He knew why she was going to kill him. He was on the Bio ship that night. The archer had known that Artemis had blamed the team for Wally's death, but he could never have imagined that she would take her quest for vengeance this far. "You're trying to fill the hole in your chest by ripping out others' hearts. You want to watch the world burn before you end your crusade. I get it."

"No you don't!" Artemis spat. She was beginning to lose her patience with her brother-in-law though her thirst for vindication prevented her from pulling the trigger until he fully understood her pain. She wanted him to hurt as much as she had when her fiancé died.

" _Yes I do_!" Roy finally raised his voice as his temper overruled his self-preservation instincts. He may be at the mercy of the homicidal woman but she had crossed a line. "I know exactly how you feel! When Lian died I wanted to do what you're doing. I wanted 'justice'! But it would dishonor Lian's memory if I did that. Sure, there's a big fat hole in my chest but the difference between your tragedy and mine is that instead of destroying everything in my path I try to honor my daughter's memory." A vein bulged out around his temple as he glared at his former ally. "Don't you dare say I don't know your pain! _I lost my daughter_."

Roy saw the flicker of emotion in Artemis' eyes. Lian was another sore subject for most of the arrow clan. But as quickly as the sadness had come it was replaced with anger. Artemis' mind had been made up from the moment she took Roy down in the ally that he was going to die. "Your words mean nothing to me Roy. If you want pity go look somewhere else."

"I can't believe you! You could've finished me off already but you stick around and try to make me feel bad." Roy laughed. "If anyone wants sympathy it's you."

This struck a nerve. The carrot-topped clone felt a small bit of pleasure as he watched Artemis's shocked expression. Her hands started trembling slightly as she readjusted her grip on her silver revolver. "Shut up." The brunette mumbled.

"No. I'm not giving you the satisfaction. You feel like you're entitled to pity. You don't deserve anything. _You have no excuse!_ " Roy's harsh words cut through Artemis like knives. "You can kill me if you want but it's not going to change anything."

"Maybe I should. It'll make me feel better." The former heroine growled and returned to her previous scowling expression. She didn't want to face any more of the truth. It hurt too much. Artemis pulled her boot off of her brother-in-law and prepared to take the final shot.

Roy closed his eyes as he heard her cock the pistol. He didn't bother fighting back. He was not afraid to die but he preferred not to watch. It would be easier if death took him by surprise. The clone felt at peace with himself for some odd reason. He assumed it would be a little more painless than watching the oncoming bullet before it took his life. He waited patiently for the gunshot and what would follow, but it never came. Suddenly the clone heard the sickening sound of a blade slicing through flesh and bone. He opened his eyes to see that Artemis had fallen to her knees with a blade sticking out of the center of her chest. Her pistol slipped out of her fingers and clattered on the pavement before she collapsed.

The clone propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look of his surroundings. There was a figure standing right behind the curtain of dim light provided by the flickering streetlamp. He recognized the stranger immediately though he was surprised that she was the one who saved him.

Jade slowly made her way towards her estranged husband. She was wearing her uniform, but her mask was nowhere to be seen. The clone could tell from the assassin's moments that she was in shock. Her features were blank and numb. Roy could tell that she was horrified with herself. Artemis was her sister. She had just killed her baby sister. Cheshire's grip was unusually tender as she offered Roy her hand and pulled him back on his feet. Her eyes met his, which was also out of character for her. Roy could see the pain in Jade's gaze as she tried to find something to say. It was rare for her to be without words.

"Thank you." Roy began quietly, his voice was hoarse but sincere. It was the first time he had spoken to his wife since his daughter's funeral.

Jade nodded solemnly, looking defeated. "Don't mention it." She said slowly. Her body was numb. She could not bear to look at her younger sister's corpse. She didn't want to see Artemis's still form sprawled across the pavement with _her_ knife sticking out of her chest. Jade could barley stomach her actions, but she had no regrets. Artemis had become a monster. Sometimes monsters had to be stopped instead of saved, but it was hard when that monster was all that remained of her little sister.

Roy just stood there and allowed his estranged wife to absorb the moment. She was calm, quiet and as still as a statue. The only thing that moved were her eyes as they scanned the ally, looking at anything but the dead body on the ground.

It wasn't like Cheshire hadn't killed before, however there was something different about this. Cheshire didn't kill Artemis, Jade did. Jade was a mother, an occasional waitress and a slightly crappy older sister. Cheshire usually did the dirty work. Neither persona wanted Artemis to die, but Jade knew what had to be done. She knew that Artemis had died the night Wally had. The feeling was similar to what she felt when her watched her precious Lian take her last breath in the Mercy Hospital's trauma center. But Jade held on to her sanity, barley, but that was enough to stop her from following the footsteps of her little sister.

The thirty-some woman eventually retrieved herself from her thoughts and turned her attention to her husband. He was wearing running pants and his favorite red hoodie. Blood ran out of his nose and down to his chin like a trickling scarlet waterfall. Jade tried to say something to him but when she opened her mouth the only thing that came out was a sob.

Roy stared at her for a brief second after she started crying before he wrapped his arms around her and became her personal tissue. It was so unlike Jade to cry, but given the circumstances he was not surprised. "Are you okay?' He asked. It was a stupid question but he didn't know what else to say.

Jade pulled away and gave him a teary eyed glare before returning to her devastated expression. She ignored his question, but she finally was able to say what she needed to say. "Y'know she was supposed to be the one to get it right. She was the only one in the family that wasn't going to be some screw up lowlife. A-artemis had—," she paused and her voice cracked at her sister's name. Jade quickly regained control. "Artemis had a chance. She was graduated from fucking Stanford. She was going to get married and she was going to start a family of her own with that guy and she was…she was," Jade tried not to choke on her tears. "She was going to have a damn good life. Artemis was never supposed to become this-this _monster_!"

The clone held Jade tightly in his arms while he found his eyes captivated by Artemis' lifeless gaze. She looked like a complete stranger. Jade was right, Wally had taken the Artemis they all knew and loved when he perished. Nevertheless there was something within that haunting steel-grey stare that Roy recognized. It was like the old blonde archer was now at peace. Eventually he parted his gaze and returned his attention Jade. "I know. I know," he sighed and tightened his embrace. "It's going to be alright Jade." He whispered again though his words were uncertain.

**Author's Note:**

> Again sorry for all of the angst. Lemme know if you see any typos or mistakes and I'll fix them right away. If you want something a little happier feel free to check out my other Young Justice AU oneshots or my other series Like Cats and Dogs (A yj shapeshifter AU) That I'm trying to update weekly. You can also find me on tumblr as TheColdestGinger. Thanks for reading. Kudos and Comments are more than welcome! :)


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